Kick.it

Day one of my Kick was tough. I could lie to you and say I didn’t have a cigarette but I’m not going to. I folded and gave in. It was during ‘hell hour’. That time around 5 o’clock when the kids get crazy – fighting and screaming at each other for no apparent reason while you’re trying to get their dinner ready. I’d had enough and needed a break. What had I been doing for the past 12 months or so to take a break? Light up. And that I did. Habit got the better of me. The thing was though, I didn’t enjoy it and at one point I looked at it and thought, ‘What the f**k am I doing?!?’ I put the cigarette out.

Apart from that one slip, the first day of my Kick was quite good. I had cravings but I’d expected that. Each of them I logged on kick.it and chose a card I liked in the Kick Stack to help me through. Interestingly enough, whenever I used the stack I got through the craving. The one smoke I had, I didn’t even log the craving so didn’t have the stack available to utilise. I wish I had!

Cravings for me come and go like an anxiety attack or stress might do. It builds to a crescendo like a wave might then dissipates as it passes. My ‘go to’ ACT (Acceptance Commitment Therapy) technique is to visualise my thoughts (or anxiety, stress etc) as a storm cloud passing through the sky. The skies may be stormy but the storm will still pass and blue skies will prevail. By doing this I feel that the unhelpful thoughts (cravings) are defused and whilst they may remain there for a while acknowledgment and acceptance gets me through.

A great wall of water jacks up only meters away. What was once a peaceful rise and fall in the ocean is now the mother of all waves threatening to crash down on top of me. I crane my neck looking up at the beast; can I make it over the lip or will I get smashed on the reef below if I fight it? With effortless timing I push the nose of my board downwards, propelling me underneath the wave with minimal resistance. As I slip silently under the thunderous wave I look upwards, watching it roll over the top of me as I broke the surface to see it rolling towards the beach. I’m through it – for now!

A close second is the visualisation I describe above. You can choose to fight unhelpful thoughts (or cravings) or make room for them and watch them pass much like you’d watch a wave roll overhead as you duck dive underneath it.

I’m now in day six of my kick. I’ve added 30 hours to my life, avoided 30 ci******es and saved $34.50 More importantly though I’m back at my CrossFit box. I’m lifting heavier than I ever have and feel my lungs opening up again. I feel good. I’m on a roll. I still get cravings though so my strategy for the next week is to beat one craving at a time. When we break tasks down into manageable goals we are more likely to succeed but I’ll speak more about this in my next post.

Keep on kicking.

Jerry Lee

Jerry is a Kick.it Pioneer and has teamed up with six other smokers in our beta app for - starting today 28/5/17.

Now on day 6 he's killin it!

If you would like an invite to test Kick.it send this page a DM!